Patent Literature 1 discloses a carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin tape and a manufacturing method therefor. The manufacturing method includes extracting carbon fiber impregnated with melted resin through a downstream side slit nozzle, and quickly cooling a tape immediately after being drawn out from the downstream side slit nozzle by a tape cooling means provided downstream of the downstream side slit nozzle at a predetermined temperature dropping rate or higher.
Patent Literature 1 recites that it is desirable to locate a cooling roller as the tape cooling means as close to the downstream side slit nozzle as possible in order to prevent deformation of the tape. Patent Literature 1 discloses an Example with an axis-to-axis distance of 200 mm between a nozzle roller of the downstream side slit nozzle and the cooling roller downstream thereof.
The inventers conducted a test, having found that a large distance between a tip end of the nozzle and an axis of the cooling roller causes roughness and fineness of fiber widthwise of manufactured fiber-reinforced thermoplastic resin tape and, in an extreme case, causes a part in which only thermoplastic resin exists without fiber or a defective part in which neither fiber nor thermoplastic resin exists.
However, locating the cooling roller close to the nozzle for suppressing generation of the defective part causes the cooling roller to obstruct work of removing the nozzle from the device at the time of maintenance of the nozzle, thereby hindering the maintenance. The cooling roller also obstructs work of laying a fiber bundle of carbon fibers, which have not been yet impregnated with melted resin, on the device, thereby hindering preparation work before the start of manufacturing.